A series of letters supposedly written by US troops in Iraq detailing their successes in the country were all written by their commander, it has emerged.

The publication of the letters, in several US newspapers, comes as the Bush administration has stepped up efforts to win over an American public increasingly sceptical of its handling of the situation in Iraq.

Critics said if the letters were found to be part of an organised effort by the military to win over US hearts and minds regarding the conflict it could be a violation of military ethics.
However, the soldiers' commander, Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Caraccilo, told ABC News on Tuesday his staff had written the letters merely to get "good news" back to the US more efficiently.
He says he then sent it round to his soldiers saying they could send a copy home if they wanted to.
"We thought it would be a good idea to encapsulate what we as a battalion have accomplished since arriving Iraq and share that pride with people back home," he said.

'Positive aspect'

The missives detailed the lives of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment and their efforts to re-establish law and order in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where they are based.
The soldiers "wrote" of rebuilding police and fire departments and of repairing water and sewer plants in the area.

The letters came to light when some of the soldiers' families sent them to local newspapers.
Editors became suspicious when they noticed the letters had identical phrases even though they were signed by different soldiers.
"After nearly five months here, the people still come running from their homes, into the 110-degree heat, waving to us as our troops drive by on daily patrols of the city," read one line.

One soldier's mother said she knew it was not her son's words as he did not have the linguistic ability.
But Amy Connell told the New York Times she passed the letter - signed by her paratrooper son, Adam - to the Boston Globe newspaper because she was proud of his achievements.
"I wanted the positive view put out there,'' she told the paper.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3190934.stm

XyZspineZyX

10-14-2003, 08:01 PM

US Army's 'fake' letters cause stir.

BBC Tuesday, 14. October, 2003.

A series of letters supposedly written by US troops in Iraq detailing their successes in the country were all written by their commander, it has emerged.

The publication of the letters, in several US newspapers, comes as the Bush administration has stepped up efforts to win over an American public increasingly sceptical of its handling of the situation in Iraq.

Critics said if the letters were found to be part of an organised effort by the military to win over US hearts and minds regarding the conflict it could be a violation of military ethics.
However, the soldiers' commander, Lieutenant Colonel Dominic Caraccilo, told ABC News on Tuesday his staff had written the letters merely to get "good news" back to the US more efficiently.
He says he then sent it round to his soldiers saying they could send a copy home if they wanted to.
"We thought it would be a good idea to encapsulate what we as a battalion have accomplished since arriving Iraq and share that pride with people back home," he said.

'Positive aspect'

The missives detailed the lives of soldiers from the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Infantry Regiment and their efforts to re-establish law and order in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where they are based.
The soldiers "wrote" of rebuilding police and fire departments and of repairing water and sewer plants in the area.

The letters came to light when some of the soldiers' families sent them to local newspapers.
Editors became suspicious when they noticed the letters had identical phrases even though they were signed by different soldiers.
"After nearly five months here, the people still come running from their homes, into the 110-degree heat, waving to us as our troops drive by on daily patrols of the city," read one line.

One soldier's mother said she knew it was not her son's words as he did not have the linguistic ability.
But Amy Connell told the New York Times she passed the letter - signed by her paratrooper son, Adam - to the Boston Globe newspaper because she was proud of his achievements.
"I wanted the positive view put out there,'' she told the paper.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3190934.stm

XyZspineZyX

10-14-2003, 08:22 PM

I don't know who to believe.

I mean it's either one of them are lying or they both are, putting their own spin on the situation.

http://www.global-vision.org/interview/intergifs/scream.gif

"Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift.."- Plato

XyZspineZyX

10-14-2003, 08:45 PM

disgruntled_god wrote:
- I don't know who to believe.
-
- I mean it's either one of them are lying or they
- both are, putting their own spin on the situation.

There's no allegation that the content of the letters is untrue or falsified, is there? Just that they weren't written by the GIs...

The COMPLETE version of the story?? /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-surprised.gif you mean Nick was showing us only PART of it? /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-surprised.gif I'm appalled! /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif Oh yes, so shocking. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 02:22 AM

Correction, the BBC was only showing Nick part of it, that's what the BBC does. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

Well, I'm not going to point fingers, but I would speculate that if Nick had seen both versions, he would have still picked the BBC's article to post. Just a WILD assumption though. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 02:42 AM

well regardless, someone screwed up/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif

I don't think this changes my opinon of the war in iraq for the better or the worse.

We just need to be behind all our troops untill they get this job done/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

http://www.global-vision.org/interview/intergifs/scream.gif

"Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift.."- Plato

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 04:40 AM

Thoramir wrote:
- It was a form letter, not a fake letter, each of the
- soldiers had to sign off on it and provide the
- address of their home newspaper.

"A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va."

This one was from the link you posted, Thor.

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:05 AM

Ok, so I know you guys will apply this rule to EVERY positive letter coming out of Iraq, that's unquestionable, try to deny it, but you know it's true. But the question still stands, think Witness asked this, does this at all suggest any type of "wrong" information within these letters? Or is the only thing that matters is that you have something to criticize, whatever it may be?

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:16 AM

Demon_Mustang wrote:
- Ok, so I know you guys will apply this rule to EVERY
- positive letter coming out of Iraq,

Thisis coming from an extremely cynical person. Making [false] hypothesies about what other people are going to write is not much of an argument.

But the question still stands, think Witness
- asked this, does this at all suggest any type of
- "wrong" information within these letters? Or is the
- only thing that matters is that you have something
- to criticize, whatever it may be?

Well, that we can't know with 100% certainty. The soldiers have a bias, and do the grunts on the ground really know what the big picture is all the time? Besides, why does whoever wrote the letters need to skip the signature part?

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:39 AM

cow wrote:
"Thisis coming from an extremely cynical person. Making [false] hypothesies about what other people are going to write is not much of an argument."

False huh? you don't think that this thread could have been started in response to the letter dg posted can it? Nah, couldn't be, just another one of those convenient coincidences.

"Well, that we can't know with 100% certainty. The soldiers have a bias, and do the grunts on the ground really know what the big picture is all the time? Besides, why does whoever wrote the letters need to skip the signature part?"

Ok, not knowing the big picture, again, let me ask, does this somehow suggest that the details they speak of is wrong?

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:42 AM

weithe ror not the information is right or wrong, saying it came from the individual soldiers is wrong. That would be like me writing that witness is a panzy, then saying that dayglow wrote it.

(btw, neither happened)

/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

<Center>
http://www3.telus.net\robert\girl.gif

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:47 AM

OK, it's a sin punishable by death, whatever, who cares, does any of this have a valid point other than providing another means of criticizing American involvement there? Does it, in any way, suggest that the message they had in these letter, is wrong in any way?

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:48 AM

Yes, if the soldiers never wrote them, it was wrong, plain and simple.

<Center>
http://www3.telus.net\robert\girl.gif

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 05:51 AM

Oh please, I'm talking about the information they present, not only does this not represent all the letters, but they are also written by other people that are there. There are many more letters that are legit that would portray the same message, so despite this ******edness, the media is still wrong, as usual, despite how much they try to cloud that fact by criticizing everyone around them who says so.

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 06:15 AM

Obviously, you read a differant story then the rest of us, oh well.........

/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

<Center>
http://www3.telus.net\robert\girl.gif

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 08:35 PM

Demon_Mustang wrote:
- OK, it's a sin punishable by death, whatever, who
- cares, does any of this have a valid point other
- than providing another means of criticizing American
- involvement there? Does it, in any way, suggest that
- the message they had in these letter, is wrong in
- any way?

How do you know that's what's being argued? You're so quick to jump to that conclusion, but you didn't stop to think that maybe that wasn't the point...

The only letters which should be sent with soldiers names on them are letters which should have been written by the soldiers themselves. This is what is being argued here.

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 09:31 PM

Cowanchicken wrote:
-
- The only letters which should be sent with soldiers
- names on them are letters which should have been
- written by the soldiers themselves. This is what is
- being argued here.
-
What is so wrong with a positive letter written by another writer and signed by a soldier. If the soldier with the signature reads, agrees and signs it as far as I am concearned its the same as if the soldier had written it him/herself.
-
The letters where send to a newspaper not family members.
Since there is no problem giving out the bad news a little reverse advertisement I think is an excellent idea.

I heard callers with sons and husbands on the Sean Hanitty radio show call in and tell us how their loved ones feel about our efforts and accompblishments there and they are surprise to hear the BS that is being reported here.

Hornet57 wrote:
-
- The letters where send to a newspaper not family
- members.

Wrong. They were sent to the newspaper by the family members.

<blockquote>The letters came to light when some of the soldiers' families sent them to local newspapers.

One soldier's mother said she knew it was not her son's words as he did not have the linguistic ability.
But Amy Connell told the New York Times she passed the letter - signed by her paratrooper son, Adam - to the Boston Globe newspaper because she was proud of his achievements. </blockquote>

http://members.shaw.ca/cuski4678/sig.jpg

Message Edited on 10/15/0301:39PM by cuski

XyZspineZyX

10-15-2003, 09:38 PM

Hey, don't be so quick to defend it Hornet, I don't agree with it, but the fact is, I've read some letters that might fall under this accusations, and I've read others which are completely unrelated and are probably legitimate. Despite what the media tells you, the facts that are stated about their progress and what happened in certain incidents are true. That's all I'm defending, that the main message, that the media is unfairly disregarding all the positive things and exagerrating the negative things. What they did here to "get the information out there more efficiently" was stupid, the commanding officer could have simply just sent them out themselves as their own personal letter and ask the receipient to have it published. That would have been a good way to get the information out more efficiently.

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-16-2003, 12:07 AM

Cowanchicken wrote:
- Thoramir wrote:
-- It was a form letter, not a fake letter, each of the
-- soldiers had to sign off on it and provide the
-- address of their home newspaper.
-
- "A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter
- until his father congratulated him for getting it
- published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va."
-
-
- This one was from the link you posted, Thor.

It is quite possible that the soldier forgot that he put himself on the list (especially, if he wasn't paying attention and didn't realize it'd be sent home with his name on it.). People put themselves on lists all the time and forget about it later, I know, I've worked for a few companies that made a business out of it.

Still, the commanding officers could have simply mailed a single copy home with THEIR name on it and the liberals wouldn't be able to say a thing.

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-16-2003, 04:58 AM

The Liberals would find something else wrong with it anyway regardless of its Merit.

Remember they ARE Liberals
Anything that is a positive situation for Bush means no votes for the Liberals /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif

Well what they did here was inviting the liberals to criticize them, in my opinion. They were basically giving them a valid argument for once, which is unacceptable.

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell

XyZspineZyX

10-16-2003, 09:34 AM

"Wrong. They were sent to the newspaper by the family members."

If it was'nt sent directly to newspapers, why does it start out with:

"Dear Editor

I have been serving...."

And if the family sent it, then what is this about:

"A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va."

It is simply yet another PR stunt in a line of many. Nothing strange about it. It is however questionable to sign it of with soldiers names. But the reason is of course obvious, to make it more personal, less formal and seem less biased than a press release, which is actually is in a way.

XyZspineZyX

10-16-2003, 09:20 PM

Thoramir wrote:

-"Correction, the BBC was only showing Nick part of it, that's what the BBC does".

Link to BBC and the way it do business ~ http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/purpose/
Are you saying BBC twist truth and hide facts?

Demon wrote:

-"The COMPLETE version of the story?? you mean Nick was showing us only PART of it? I'm appalled! Oh yes, so shocking".

Really, I fail to see what is wrong with the BBC article. The article states nothing the article from Olympia does not state at the same time. They are the same, so please stop trying to paint a picture of the article and me being wrong or biased.
Its simply, what happened. Information to base an opinion on, not an opinion in itself.

Demon wrote:

-"Well, I'm not going to point fingers, but I would speculate that if Nick had seen both versions, he would have still picked the BBC's article to post. Just a WILD assumption though".

Not true Demon. Both articles would work for me. Why not?
Trust me if you can, I dident post it here to blame.....or ridicule.

By the way, when your saying your not going to point your finger, dont point your finger/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

Demon wrote:

-"Ok, so I know you guys will apply this rule to EVERY positive letter coming out of Iraq, that's unquestionable, try to deny it, but you know it's true. But the question still stands, think Witness asked this, does this at all suggest any type of "wrong" information within these letters? Or is the only thing that matters is that you have something to criticize, whatever it may be?".

Not true again. I dont do that, have never done that and will never be so single minded. (liar, liar)
Are you aware of the latest poll from Gallup? Its the first real poll, coming from Baghdad in a long time.
1.200 people in Baghdad was asked how they think US soldiers have behaved. If I remember correctly, 71 % said the American troops have behaved well, 60 % wanted the troops to stay for a few more months and only 29 % said they thought the Americans had behaved badly.

So, you would think we can go to rest at night, knowing that peace and law and order have finally arrived to Iraq. We sleep the sleep of the innocents, dont we!

However, thinking of the suicide rate concerning American soldiers in Iraq makes me wonder how great things really are down there.
13 soldiers have commited suicide and another 14 cases are under investigation. This is a suicide rate 3-4 times higher than normal.
Why?

Add to this, the daily attacks on US troops.
In my opinion, something doesent add up. People dont commit suicide for nothing.

Demon wrote:

-"False huh? you don't think that this thread could have been started in response to the letter dg posted can it? Nah, couldn't be, just another one of those convenient coincidences".

No, my post was not aimed at Disgruntled. A fellow, who is somewhat more easygoing than you, when it comes to debating "truth".
And yes, like Cowan said, you did make a false hypothesis.

Please stop doing my thinking for me. I dont need you to tell me why I do this or think that. Your actually wrong in your arguing for why I posted the article but since im the only one who can be really sure of this there is no way I can argue you to rest, I guess.

Demon wrote:

-"Ok, not knowing the big picture, again, let me ask, does this somehow suggest that the details they speak of is wrong?".

No. The article never stated that. It simply informed.
It even gave examples: "After nearly five months here, the people still come running from their homes, into the 110-degree heat, waving to us as our troops drive by on daily patrols of the city".

Nice to know, dont you think? Dont you see anything wrong with someone hired to the job, writes this and then let another sign it? To influence public opinion.

Demon wrote:

-"Oh please, I'm talking about the information they present, not only does this not represent all the letters, but they are also written by other people that are there. There are many more letters that are legit that would portray the same message, so despite this ******edness, the media is still wrong, as usual, despite how much they try to cloud that fact by criticizing everyone around them who says so".

With the way these letters came to be, im leaning towards the perception that they are flat out propaganda. The kind you cant trust, mind you.
Maybe its a case of "the end justifies the means" but the letters should have been written by the soldiers themselfs, in my opinion.
This is not the same as saying I do not believe US have made progress in the rebuilding of Iraq.

Demon wrote:

-"Hey, don't be so quick to defend it Hornet, I don't agree with it, but the fact is, I've read some letters that might fall under this accusations, and I've read others which are completely unrelated and are probably legitimate. Despite what the media tells you, the facts that are stated about their progress and what happened in certain incidents are true. That's all I'm defending, that the main message, that the media is unfairly disregarding all the positive things and exagerrating the negative things. What they did here to "get the information out there more efficiently" was stupid, the commanding officer could have simply just sent them out themselves as their own personal letter and ask the receipient to have it published. That would have been a good way to get the information out more efficiently.

Yes, good point. He should have written the letters himself. But you must admit, he stands a much better chance of getting his point of wiew out to the public, if he sets up some sort of organisation that will write the letters for his soldiers who then send them home.
It actually seems that the officer was right. It did work, the letters made the news/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

XyZspineZyX

10-16-2003, 09:33 PM

I'm saying that BBC articles are consistently shorter, and vaguer in content than other news sources, and all the mission statements won't change it. Whether that quite comes to the level of twisting and distorting, or whether it's even intentional, I'll leave up to you.

Nick wrote:
"Link to BBC and the way it do business ~ http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/purpose/
Are you saying BBC twist truth and hide facts?"

Hey, that's circular reasoning. It's like stating that the bible is the word of God because it says so in the bible and therefore it's true because it's the word of God. Understand? /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-very-happy.gif

"By the way, when your saying your not going to point your finger, dont point your finger"

Oh I know I was blatently pointing my finger at you. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif Was another of my stupid jokes. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-tongue.gif

"13 soldiers have commited suicide and another 14 cases are under investigation. This is a suicide rate 3-4 times higher than normal.
Why?"

The same can be said about college. It's just stress, no one said being in a foreign country for so long with the media exagerrating attacks on Americans would not make certain people stressed out.

"Add to this, the daily attacks on US troops.
In my opinion, something doesent add up. People dont commit suicide for nothing."

Actually you've been reading the media too much, not as many people have died from attacks as they all try to claim.

"Please stop doing my thinking for me. I dont need you to tell me why I do this or think that. Your actually wrong in your arguing for why I posted the article but since im the only one who can be really sure of this there is no way I can argue you to rest, I guess."

So just say it then, this was just another one of the magical coincidences that keep on happening. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif I like those strange coincidences, like in movies, when the good person is JUST about to get killed, a random car accident or someone would just happen to drop in and ruin it for the bad guy. /i/smilies/16x16_smiley-happy.gif

"Nice to know, dont you think? Dont you see anything wrong with someone hired to the job, writes this and then let another sign it? To influence public opinion."

Completely Nick, don't get me wrong, I agree this was wrong. I just don't want people to use this as a way to claim that the situation is not as the letters say, because other, legitimate, letters have been mailed that would say the same message as these. I did say later that I also agree that this was wrong, and the commander who did this was a complete idiot and what he did was misleading. He should have simply mailed it out himself and ask for it to be published, duh.

"Yes, good point. He should have written the letters himself. But you must admit, he stands a much better chance of getting his point of wiew out to the public, if he sets up some sort of organisation that will write the letters for his soldiers who then send them home.
It actually seems that the officer was right. It did work, the letters made the news"

No, because doing something like that would open a door to allow something like this that would just backfire on the attempt. And no, it didn't work, because THIS made the news.

I understand WHY he did it, but to actually do it, is wrong.

<hr>
--"General Hammond, request permission to beat the crap out of this man." -Col. Jack O'Neill -Stargate SG-1
--Capt. Carter: "You think it might be a booby trap?"
â â Teal'c: "Booby?"
--"I'm a bomb technician, if you see me running, try to catch up" -in Russian on a bomb tech's shirt from "The Sum of All Fears"
--"All my life, I've been waiting for someone and when I find her, she's a fish!" -Tom Hanks "Splash"
--"War is not about who's right, it's about who's left." -Anders Russell